Chapter Text
“All right, class, settle down,” Mrs. Stocks said, shaking her head a little. “We have just under a week until Christmas break officially begins. It hasn’t actually started yet.” She looked around the room at the students, who all seemed to be a lot more interested in talking to one another than listening to announcements or even working on homework from other classes. “I’d like to remind the class that several of you still owe hours for your community service projects. Remember, you have to have half of them finished before the break.” She looked meaningfully at Chloe, then over at Oliver, who was slumped down in a seat in the back. “Some of you haven’t turned in any documentation of any hours at all so far.”
Chloe sighed at the look she got and shook her head. She didn’t mind helping the community at all, but she had the Torch, which took up most of her free time and the extra articles she wrote for the Ledger on top of everything else normal people had to do for school. And she’d been spending a lot of time trying to find information on what Lionel had been up to since her talk with Lana a couple weeks ago.
Now they had less than a week left until Christmas break and she had to somehow fit in fifteen hours of volunteer work. Not enough coffee in the world.
“Can I just donate a couple hundred bucks somewhere instead?” Oliver asked, tone completely bored.
“No, Mr. Queen, you may not.” The teacher said, arching her eyebrows at him, “I have a list of local places you can still sign up for here, both in Smallville and surrounding areas. I’ll pass this out again.”
Chloe glanced over at Oliver and shook her head a little. He could at least try to be likeable. It would make the task of attempting to approach him so much easier on her.
Oliver didn’t say anything else or even look up at the teacher, just slumped down in his chair a little more, and laid his head back against the wall behind him, letting his eyes drift shut.
She kept her eyes on him even as she took a copy of the paper. If there was one thing she couldn’t imagine was him doing volunteer work somewhere.
* * *
“Hey, Ollie!” one of the regulars at the community center called out in greeting.
He smiled faintly and lifted his hand in a wave. “Hey,” he called back, heading toward the kitchen area, grabbing one of the aprons on the way to keep his shirt from getting covered in food. “You still owe me a game of one-on-one!”
“And I’m still gonna kick your butt when we play!” the guy called back, chuckling.
* * *
Chloe nodded a little as an older volunteer gave her a clipboard and a pen, “okay so just make sure I write down every box that comes out when the kitchen needs it, got it.” She nodded, smiling.
The older man smiled back at her and patted her on the shoulder before heading away. “How are our cooks doing?” he called.
“We were short one til a few minutes ago, but our favorite younger cook showed up to save the day,” a lady called back cheerfully.
Chloe watched them go then looked back at the area she was supposed to be keeping an inventory over. Doing kitchen-related work was not her top choice but apparently this place needed all the help it could get since from what they had told her, they had to serve twice as many meals around the holidays.
“Hi.” A little boy looked up at her with big blue eyes and a shy smile.
She blinked, surprised when she saw him standing there, “hi,” she greeted, smiling a little, “should you be back here?”
“I’m hungry,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her legs.
“Right,” she said awkwardly, then looked around, “and we are in the kitchen so I guess you’re in the right place.” She muttered, frowning, not entirely sure what to give the kid. Somehow she didn’t think he’d appreciate a carrot. “Why don’t we go see if we can find you a snack until the food is ready?”
“Cookie?” he asked, looking up hopefully and holding his arms up for her to pick him up.
Chloe stared at him for a moment, looking around once more in hopes of finding a parent or someone who would be much better suited for this than she was, but no such luck. She set her clipboard and pen over one of the boxes then awkwardly picked him up, “hm, any idea where the cookies are?” She asked, shifting the little boy in her arms, he was way heavier than he looked.
He nodded, smiling brightly, one bottom tooth missing when he grinned. “Lee always has them!” He wrapped his arms around her neck.
“Lee, that’s a start,” she said, starting around the kitchen and looking at the name tags of the people as she passed them, “can you help me find Lee?”
He nodded again, pointing to the guy standing at the stove. “Lee!”
Oliver looked over, grinning at the sound of the familiar voice, but his smile faded instantly as he saw who was carrying him. Shit.
Chloe stilled, her eyes widening when she saw Oliver Queen, of all people, standing there with an apron on. She nearly dropped the kid when he started to wiggle to get down and it took her a second to set him on the floor. As soon as she did, though, the little boy went straight to Oliver and wrapped his arms around his legs.
Pursing his lips for a moment, Oliver looked down at the little boy, kneeling down. “Hey, Charlie.” He ruffled the kid’s hair gently. “You’re not supposed to be back here, remember? We don’t want you to get burned.” He picked him up, smiling involuntarily when the boy giggled.
She stepped forward a moment later, hesitating before speaking, “he said you usually give him cookies.” Chloe told him, “he was looking for one.”
“That’s because Charlie’s a little cookie monster, aren’t you?” He tickled the boy’s ribs and moved over to one of the canisters that had Oreos. He pulled one out and gave it to the boy, who stuffed the whole thing into his mouth without hesitation. “Come on, we should find your mom, okay?” When Charlie nodded, Oliver glanced momentarily at Chloe, then drew in a breath and made his way out into the main room, glancing around til he spotted the dark-haired woman hunched over one of the tables, reading the day’s newspaper.
Chloe blew out a breath, pulling herself together after what had just happened, but didn’t wait too long before following Oliver out in the main room. Charlie obviously knew him, and he was one of the cooks, Chloe knew for a fact that those weren’t one of those temporary positions just for the holidays. All the volunteers who were actually making the food had been there for a while, since they had all the nutritional values and portion sizes and stuff to worry about.
But it made no sense, why would he be offering money to cover up his volunteer hours at school if he had been doing this for a while? He only needed fifteen now, thirty total, if he had been going for at least a month, he’d have those hours more than covered already.
She watched as he spoke with the woman, Chloe guessed she was Charlie’s mom, and she couldn’t help but notice how much the little boy seemed to like Oliver. If she were to guess, it wasn’t just because he gave him cookies.
Oliver smiled softly at Charlie and his mother, moving away from them a few moments later, more than a little aware of the fact that Chloe was still staring at him, like he had just announced he was from another planet. He pursed his lips once more, walking over to where she stood and arching his eyebrows. “So what job did they give you?” It was probably the most pleasant thing he’d said to her in months.
“Inventory,” she said, watching him closely, “how long have you been working here?”
He wanted to tell her that that was how he’d started out, at first, too, but he didn’t. “Since the beginning of the semester,” he answered, heading toward the kitchen once more.
Chloe blinked, surprised and shook her head as she followed him, “so why haven’t you used those hours for school?”
He paused for a moment, glancing at her over his shoulder. “Because it’s not about school.”
“Yeah, because if you’ve been doing this since the beginning of the semester, you’re well over your thirty hours.” She said, still following him, “why are you doing this, then?”
“Because I want to,” he said with a shrug, moving back to the stove and stirring the pot of spaghetti noodles. “I like it here.”
She chewed on the inside of her mouth and nodded a little, taking a deep breath. She had more questions but it didn’t feel right to ask, especially when she felt like she was invading something incredibly private already, “I’ll try to stay out of your way while I’m here.” She told him, before walking back to where she had left her clipboard.
Oliver watched her go, holding his breath for a moment, then letting it out slowly. He turned the heat on the boiling pot down just a little and then reached into the canister, grabbing another cookie and slowly moving over to where she was. He held it out to her wordlessly, raising his eyebrows a little.
Pausing, she frowned a little at him, watching him for a moment then reaching for a cookie, “thanks,” she said, unsure.
“Welcome,” he answered, hesitating for a few seconds. “Look, you’ve got what, fifteen hours to put in here this week, right?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, arching her eyebrows a little.
“Is there any reason we have to be at one another’s throats?” he asked, voice dropping a little. “Or can we just call a truce while we’re here?”
Chloe considered him for a moment, then nodded, “I’m okay with that,” she told him, more than a little surprised by his offer.
He watched her for a second, then nodded, too. “Good. Cause these people have been through a lot already,” he said softly. There was no reason they needed to deal with high school drama on top of it.
“Yeah, I agree,” she said, eyes still on him. He had been through more than enough himself.
Oliver drew in a breath, nodding once more. “All right. I should...get back to the spaghetti.” He hitched his thumb over his shoulder, offering her a tiny smile.
“Yeah,” she smiled a little too and nodded, “I’ll see you around.”
“All right.” He smiled a bit more and headed back toward the stove, relaxing just a little.
Chloe kept her eyes on him and took a deep breath before heading to the stock room. Maybe this was the opening she needed to try and figure him out.
* * *
Oliver finished cleaning up his mess in the kitchen and saying his goodbyes to his fellow volunteers, pausing in the main room and glancing around. He didn’t see Chloe, so he guessed she must have taken off already. He drew in a breath, wrapping his scarf around his neck and pulling on his gloves as he headed out to the parking lot and toward his car, grimacing a little as he glanced up. Snow was beginning to fall lightly--the third snowfall that day. It wasn’t that he didn’t like snow, per say, it’s just that he was from California and snow didn’t do much for him unless he was trying to ski or sled or something.
“Oliver?” She called, coming out a second after him, she’d been waiting for him to leave for almost half an hour now, because she wanted to talk to him alone, but between completely cleaning up his station and saying goodbye to all his friends, it had taken him a while.
He paused for a second, then turned at the sound of her voice, watching her silently as she approached him. “Yeah?”
Chloe shivered, closing her jacket, “hey,” she said, walking over to where he was, “I have a question.”
He pursed his lips and arched his eyebrows, faint amusement in his eyes. “You usually do.”
“Fair,” she smiled a little, willing herself to relax. She’d spent the rest of their shift trying to think of ways to talk to him as much as possible during her week there, and this had been her best solution, “I don’t want to push our truce too far but... I was thinking that carpooling might not be a bad idea. It’d be cheaper and with the way the weather is this time of the year, it’d be a lot safer too.”
Oliver paused, hesitating a moment. “You sure that’s a good idea?”
“Like I said, I don’t wanna push it,” she told him, holding her hands up, “but it is a long drive, especially after a long shift like this.”
“It means you might be seen with me,” he told her, watching her closely.
“I don’t think anyone here knows who you really are, do they, Ollie?” She asked, arching her eyebrows.
He winced a little and looked away. “I meant as we’re leaving Smallville,” he responded.
Chloe considered him for a moment then shrugged a little, “I don’t really care,” she said sincerely, “but I can meet you up at the mansion if you want, since it’s half way out of the city already.”
“No. That’s a bad idea,” he answered without hesitation. “If you really want to carpool, let’s just meet up outside the Talon and go from there.”
She watched him for a moment then nodded a little, “okay, but you can think it over and let me know tomorrow.”
“Sure. I’ll stick a note in your locker,” he said lightly.
“Or you can text me,” she said, frowning a little, now wondering if he had deleted her number completely.
“Or that,” he agreed, nodding and studying her for a moment, wondering what the frown was about.
“Okay,” she nodded a little, reaching for her keys in her purse, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, pulling his keys from the pocket of his leather jacket.
She watched him for a moment longer then nodded a little, “goodnight,” she told him before heading to her car.
Oliver watched her go, making sure she was safely in her car before he moved to get into his own, starting the engine and glancing over at her once more as he backed the vehicle up from the parking spot and headed for the road. This was turning out to be a very strange night.
* * *
By lunch time the following day, Chloe still hadn’t heard from Oliver. She had no idea what she was going to do to get him to talk to her if this didn’t work out, but she wasn’t going to consider her plan a failure just yet.
As she headed toward her usual table with Clark, Lana and Lex, she glanced over to the popular kids area, not surprised to see Oliver was there. She looked at him probably for a second longer than she should have before sitting down.
“Hey, Chloe. What’s up?” Clark smiled at her as she sat down beside Lana.
“Hey,” she greeted, turning her attention toward him, “just the same, you?”
He nodded slightly. “Likewise.” He glanced at Lana and smiled again, ducking his head a little.
Just then, Chloe’s phone buzzed in her purse.
She frowned a little and looked down, not paying attention to Clark as she pulled her phone out of her purse. A text from Oliver. She opened it quickly, holding her breath then letting it out in relief when she read his text, Meet me at the Talon -- 3:45?
Quickly, she replied to him then dropped her phone back in her purse, not even noticing that she was smiling.
Oliver glanced down at his phone when it buzzed quietly, biting back a smile at her response. That works. See you there. Smirking a little, he sent her back another quick text. Which one of us will be wearing bells...?
Chloe smirked a little when she saw the follow up text, replying a moment later with it’s Smallville, I think we can both find cows to borrow them from, don’t you?
He chuckled softly, not looking at any of the people he was sitting with and instead focusing on responding to her text. Both accurate and scary.
She was doing the same, apparently not only had her plan worked, but he already seemed more comfortable with her. Most things about Smallville are.
Lana looked at her curiously. “Who are you talking to?” she asked with a small smile.
Chloe blinked, lifting her head when Lana spoke, “what?”
She arched an eyebrow, looking more than a little amused. “You were laughing at a text.”
Just then, her phone buzzed again. Every small town needs good cowbells.
She wrapped her fingers around her phone, hiding the screen and shook her head, “oh, it’s nothing.”
“Everyone you text is here,” Lex said, arching his eyebrows.
Lana paused at that. “Well, Pete’s not,” she pointed out with a small smile.
“Exactly,” Chloe said, almost thanking Lana, “neither is my cousin,” she added before turning back to her phone. If only we could use them to identify the undesirable people instead.
Oliver smirked at her response, arching his eyebrows a little and glancing over to where she was sitting. That would take a lot of damn bells.
Probably too many, we’d have an incredible level of noise pollution, She sent as a reply.
“Oliver?” Mindy whined, linking her arm with his, “what is so interesting about your phone?”
He tried to remember what her name was, but smiled a little at her, shrugging. “Sorry. I’m texting with an old friend.” He typed quickly. Might break the sound barrier.
Maybe we should implement it and study ways to transform it into energy Chloe responded, glancing in his direction.
“But I’m here now,” Mindy told him, shifting closer.
Not a bad idea. He glanced at Mindy and offered her a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Hey, I gotta cut this short, okay? I’ve got some stuff I have to do. I’ll see you around.” He rose to his feet, heading for the door even as he sent Chloe another text. Escape time.
Chloe smirked a little when she saw him heading out the door, then shifted, looking back down at her phone. Afraid of STDs?
He snorted at her response. Extremely.
Do you have a hiding place? She asked, then finally reached for her juice, she hadn’t touched her food yet.
Yeah, I do actually. The bio lab.
Chloe frowned a little when she saw the next text, not even pretending to be paying attention to whatever Clark, Lex and Lana were saying. Really? What do you do in there?
Eat lunch, usually. Or do homework.
You have to hide from your fans to eat?
Or I lose a pound a week. The shock and horror, I tell you. He smiled a little as he sat down at the lab table he and Chloe always occupied. He took a bite of the sandwich he’d made at the mansion that morning, waiting for her response.
Shaking her head a little, Chloe frowned slightly, she always figured he liked the attention. But then again, most things about him didn’t seem to be what she expected. You know that can be considered harassment, right?
He chuckled, taking another bite of his food and then responding quickly. Yeah, but I don’t want to get my fans in trouble.
So you do like the attention. She texted him, then set her phone down just long enough to open her bag of chips.
Who doesn’t like some attention once in awhile? he responded, arching his eyebrows a little and taking a drink of his water.
She frowned a little at the text and set her phone down for a few minutes, exchanging a couple of words with the people at the table and taking a few bites of food. Of course he did, he was a guy and at least he was getting some attention, considering the lack of people he had in his life, but she couldn’t help but feel weird that he liked the attention from those people. Then again, any normal guy would enjoy the attention from the barbies who were a few of the easiest girls in school.
With a deep breath, she read his text again. She wasn’t entirely sure how to reply so she went with a response as neutral as possible. I guess so.
It took him a long moment to respond, because he wasn’t really sure how to. Her response had been lukewarm at best, and he sighed softly, rubbing a hand over his face. Attempting to make friends really shouldn’t be so complicated, he thought tiredly. He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. See you in bio?
By the time she got his reply, she was done with her lunch, not that she had eaten all that much anyway, and lunch break was almost over. Yeah, see you in a few hours.
Chloe had no idea what the texting thing meant, they had barely talked the night before and even though she knew her goal was to get him to talk to her and to get a better idea of who he was and what he was doing, she had the feeling it was going to be a lot harder than she initially thought. Because Oliver was the hardest person to understand, and she was usually very good at reading people.